Films

I miss days like these.

So yes, finally I had a long weekend. Thanks to Eid. Some of my office pals went out of town/country, while I didn’t. I drafted some flexible plans confined within Abu Dhabi and Dubai. What did I do? Let’s check if your guess was right and if my plans turned out as intended. This was the picture of my world lately. Without telling the unnecessary (and necessary) details.

Sunday, September 28
I joined the company-held Iftar (evening meal to break the fast) at Sheraton. As I wrote here, I did an appetizer trip.

Monday, September 29
Early in the morning at the elevator, I bumped to the person who arranged the Iftar. Asked me, “Hi! How’s the food last night?” What to do but be polite, “Great!”, I said. Showbiz.

I sensed majority was in a vacation mode. Expecting for the announcement of Eid. A friend from the Philippines and I were email-chatting. I mentioned about Twilight. After few minutes, she was out of the office (which I didn’t know, I thought something came up that she replied late). She said she needed to leave work for a while to find Twilight copy. Haha. Stephenie Meyer, you should give me a commission for the sales talk. Well, seriously, you should really grab a copy. The next day, she went out again and purchased the remaining three books. I’m such a good influence, no? Now she’s almost finished with Book 3. (Update: She’s now with the last book. And she tells me she wants to meet a vampire. Sounds familiar, eh? Remember my “Wolf with me friends” entry?)

[click to continue…]

{ 18 comments }

Photo source

I catched Wall-E over the weekend when I was so tired and so sleepy. I expected that I’d doze off, but no. I finished the film with much interest and surprise. If you are the type who likes too much conversations in a film, this may not be the one for you. This one is a showcase of movements, colorful animation and 1960s music in between: resulting to a great film. The originality of the story is definitely a saving grace.

The first 30 minutes of the film shows Wall-E with his cockroach bestfriend.  The surviving robotical unit was tasked to sort out the Earth’s junks. Imagine a robot deciding for himself what is trash among the trashes and filing it up into cubes. There was a diamond ring he disposed over the ring’s box, which made my mind screamed, “Wall-E, save the ring!”. Heehee. Anyway, what’s interesting was that he got the wits to save a budding plant, with so tiny leaves, and replanted it in a junk boots. How do you program a robot to know what’s useful and not?  Another realization is that cockroach will always be there, speaking of survival of the fittest.

[click to continue…]

{ 12 comments }

Photo source

As the world is talking much about Batman lately, who thinks about James Batman? In this film, Rodolfo Vera Quizon popularly known as Dolphy played James Bond and Bruce Wayne/Batman. Criticisms from known reviewers were made against this Filipino spoof flick, as they review the films which are Batman related: La Verdadera Historia de Barman y Droguin, Superbatman vs Mazinga V, La Mujer Murcielago, Bat Bitch, Splatman (which features a villain called the Pornguin), Buttman and Throbbin, Rat Pfink and Boo-Boo, The Wild World of Batwoman (aka She Was a Hippie Vampire), Bathman dal Pianeta Eros, the short Robin’s Big Date (with Sam Rockwell as Batman) and Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (which is the only entry in this list authorised by DC Comics).

James Batman was shown when I wasn’t born yet. Among the cast of this 1966 flick, I only know Dolphy and Bella Flores. I was hoping that this would be shown in Cinema Global, but probaby they won’t as Kabayan Central is selling this as one of its vintage Tagalog movies.

Despite the criticisms told about this film, nothing beats the fact that Dolphy is an institution in Philippine cinema. On his 80th birthday, he has launched his tell-all book.

More photos here.
If you wish to read the synopsis or see James Batman through Kabayan Central, click here.

{ 11 comments }

Clockwise:  pansit bawang, inside the villa in Airport Road, movie ticket & free voucher, The Dark Knight tumbler

Today is definitely a long day. Friday means a weekend and so I stayed so late last night way and up still at 4am today. I was so engrossed with non-work related stuff, I didn’t note the time. But I had to be up at 9am for the Filipino mass at 12noon.  Also, I was invited for lunch by one of my officemates. It was a long planned house warming, she moved to a villa few months back.

How time flies. It has been a week since my birthday celebration. In today’s lunch, there was a number of people who were also there at the house last week. I got to meet other Filipinos who are practically in the same field. Amongst the food served, the pansit bawang caught me. It looks like pancit malabon because of the eggs, but as the name suggests its main ingredient other than the bihon (thin noodle) is bawang (garlic). It definitely left an after taste, it suits me because I (now) like spices. The surprising part is that this pansit is actually a specialty in Laguna, according to the cook. I grew up there, and just in case not, how come I missed that one.

***

As I was taking a few snapshots in and around the villa, the roof and tree and its proximity to each other mesmerized me. This reminds me much of Philippines. I had to sit lowly to capture it. I didn’t know the cacti’s tiny spines got to my denim. Before I even wanted to take a shot of that succulent plant, the tiny spines got in to my left fingers. I am thinking which did hurt me more, this cacti’s spines or the roses’ thorns ages ago? Anyway, all gone now. Lessons: a) don’t just sit anywhere, there must be another angle of the photo subject; b) bring a tweezer to make taking out of spines and things like that easier.

***

Goodbye to my plan of catching Mamma Mia at the big screen. It’s no longer airing in Abu Dhabi. Instead we catched The Dark Knight. I’m not such a fan. But there’s a box office queue, why not join the crowd, ey? I wonder why I coded one my crushes in highschool as Batman when I’m actually not engrossed with this superhero. I remember responding in one of the customized slumbooks, that he’s my most favorite action hero. What a fool. Haha. Maybe I associated my response with the crush code. Any idea if slumbooks are still uso (in)?

Batman tumbler

I must admit the movie is worth the penny. Much have been written about it. We even bought that Batman tumbler. This reminds me of KFC promos back home. I like Joker’s (Heath Ledger) characterization. One of his great films before he passed away. The things that did hit my interest: a) the robbery scene: the villains had to kill each other rather than killing all the bank’s personnel (remember RCBC rob out?), and well the strategy used to open the main cash vault + sneakers worn at hands; b) and a few conversations: Joker telling Batman, “You complete me” and “I get the feeling that you and I are destined to this forever”. Hillarious.

Batman at my palm. Joker must be envious.

As an aside, the cinema promos are just so cool. Aside from HSBC UAE’s buy 1 take 1 promo, for each ticket bought from Cinema Star entitles you to a free voucher worth AED 30 (PhP360, US$8) which is valid until February 2009 to Wild Wadi.

Have a great weekend!

{ 6 comments }